The Rise of a New World
by sakura oni chi
Summary: Welcome to Theldesia a world like no other. Where magic is real and the people of the world are desperate to find their way home. Enter Layla the Sigilmancer just trying to survive when the guild Exodius Exterina just wants her home.
1. Chapter 1

Goggles glinted in the dim sunlight of the workshop as the young adventurer bent over stacks of paper, carefully writing in lines of strange symbols. She paused for a second to push her snow white hair out of her purple almond shaped eyes. This was one of the race of ritual, a rarely played race with high intelligence and mana but low health. This Race of Ritual was also a sorcerer and a siglemancer, hence her current position.

"Layla! Come quick! Adventurers come!" One of the people of the land shouted, running into the workshop. The young Adventurer sighed before rising slowly.

Many Adventurers came into the small village intent on sub doing and forcing Layla into using her skills as a siglemancer to make extremely powerful weapons and armor. She had once been a part of one such guild, the Exodius Externa, who worked all lower level Adventurers into the ground in order to claim riches. She had barely made it out of the guild, however that time had left its scar on her soul.

"I'm coming Austrian. I'm coming." Layla rose, brushing off the wrappings that she called her clothes, and pulled the wrappings over her face. She was not going to risk this village who took her in. After tucking her hair into the purple and blue wrappings, she swept her long black cloak over her shoulders. Then she left her workshop.

Layla walked up the path and into the main square. There was two in the village, the main one where adventurers could visit and the People of the Land's own. The villagers did this as to keep the Adventurers from realizing the village's actual worth.

Layla immediately saw the adventurers, three of them who were sneering at many of the villager. Layla snorted as she stepped up to the three, one was a swashbuckler, one was a druid and the last was a monk.

"What do you want?" Layla asked coldly, purple eyes gazing disinterestedly at the adventurers.

"Where looking for weapons, heavily enchanted boss slaying weapons." The monk was the one to reply. Layla looked him over before dismissing him. None of them were at a high enough level to take on a boss, which meant they were buying for a higher level.

"I have nothing of the sort." Was her short response. She paused when the monk grabbed her by the arm.

"We want the weapons." The monk said.

"If you persist I will kill you." Layla responded. The monk and the swashbuckler both laughed while the druid clutched her staff tighter. Layla only frowned as he pulled away.

"You're one of the Race of ritual, it wont take much to kill you." The swashbuckler grinned as he pulled out his twin sabers.

"You are both fools," Layla sighed as she loosened the wrappings on her arms. She would not lose this match and she knew it. "You are standing in the devils playground." She grinned, "And I am the devil herself."

The monk charged her as she spoke and she only shifted. Behind her a wall of lava appeared and the monk crash into the burning substance. The monk screamed in agony as the ruin flashed off. The swash buckler charged next, Layla didn't even have to move as the ruin benithher feet lit up and electricity shocked the fighter.

Layla didn't stay still however, now that both knew where a portion of the ruins were they were sure to avoid. She sighed as the monk charged again. He didn't even look at the ground, so she set off another lava trap yet again. She didn't even bother to watch him burn as she stalked the druid. She would be the one to keep them alive, so she would have to die first.

The girl looked terrified as Layla prepared a firestorm. The spell should kill her in one hit, with her level being as low as it was. The fiery tornado lit up the area and Layla could feel the heat caress her face as she turned away from the druid, just in time to cast a lightning spell at the swashbuckler. He went down and she finished him off with a low level magma orb. With a sigh she turned in time to get hit by the monk.

Layla grunted in pain as the blow took a good chunk of her health away. The monk was laughing as Layla only grinned madly. "Send my well wishes," Layla cut the monks laughter as she removed the seal in the square. Layla was glad that the villagers all knew to pack up and leave when she started fighting, as her aptly name 'devils playground' spell lit up the ground with both lava and electricity. The level 20 monk had no chance as he screamed in agony.

Layla only grunted as she was almost completely drained of mana. The shear cost of removing that seals that bound the seal in its place was ridiculous. She was glad that the cost of placing them was just about half of the cost. She looked over at the square and sighed, it was going to be a pain rebuilding all the seals. However, that should keep the adventurers away for a while.

Layla turned to return to her workshop for more ink as she realized that she should set up different trap. She grinned at the thought of the challenge. It would be difficult, but she wondered if she could make a heaven's gate spell. She would try and base the spell off of water and wind, to keep things opposite. Her grin widened as she planned.

Several months later she applied the finishing touches to the newest seal she had in the square. The newest spell, the one she called heaven's gate was a teleport spell, one that was tied to a second heavens gate spell. The second gate was located in the middle of a dragon cove. The cove had many boss level dragons as well as other small pray. Layla often visited it with a few adventurers as she liked to harvest the ink from the dragon's eyes. That ink was what made her work so potent and with out it she would be stuck writing out level thirty spells.

Layla shook her head as she returned to her workshop. She would be leaving soon, as she often did. She needed to go exploring and fight. She would have to find a small group of adventurers, otherwise she wouldn't be able to go into certain caves. Layla was hoping to enter a certain cave, it was called the spider queen's lair and inside was said to house a bunch of symbols that no one had ever seen before. Layla wanted a good look at them, she wanted to know if she could break it, if she could use them for more powerful weapons.

With a grin, Layla shoved the rest of her supplies into her bag and rose. She threw the bag over her shoulder and left, her long cloak blowing behind her as she walked. She would head to the cave and see what she might be able to find. If she could find a group to go in with she would use them to make it to the boss, if not, well she would spend time prepping her new set of spells that would hopefully rid of the need for a party.

It didn't take long to make it into the wild part of the forest surrounding the village she called home. It surrounded the village and many nasty high level beasts often attacked the village. It was part of the reason she was welcomed by the village, she had found a way of making enchanted items for the people of the land. It had taken her almost an entire year of working and several of her first failed attempts had killed some of the people of the land, but when she had made it work. Layla knew that she could do something no one else could do. She created a new language for the sigls and forced them to become more than just boosts for armor. and players. She created spells and traps.

Layla sighed as she continued to walk, as much as she enjoyed living in this world, she often found herself isolated. None of the adventurers wanted to speak with her, many were to terrified to speak. Others just didn't want to be bothered with someone they saw as weak, after all, despite her level 85 sigilmancer ability she was only a level 50 sorcerer. Many saw that as a worthless level. Those who knew of her mastery in sigilmancy were afraid of the Exodius Externa who still searched for her.

There was no doubt that this was a hard life for one such as her. Layla knew she could get in contact with her friends that were still stuck on the server, but knew they wouldn't answer for what ever reason. She would never admit that it hurt her, that they wouldn't respond. She also wouldn't admit that this was the reason for her isolation.

Layla shook the thoughts from her head as she ducked under some branches, her hand swatting them away. She smiled, sadly as she breathed deeply and calmed her mind. There was no doubt that she would always miss the companionship of other adventurer, but she had her village now. They didn't understand how the sights and smells, so much like home and yet so different, could cause such homesickness. They also didn't understand the need to go out, to see the world she now called home, or the need to come up with better and more interesting traps to use. And she missed that, she missed having people who understood her.

Layla huffed out a breath as she swatted away another web. It didn't matter. She had spent more time alone in her room playing games than she did in this world, a little bit of homesickness was nothing. She forced yet another web away before she paused. She could feel the way her heart sped up as she realized that there was something much bigger than her behind her. She turned slowly, as something wet dripped onto her shoulder, leaving numbness in its wake. Her head tilted up as she stared into the gargantuan spider that stared at her.

"No!" She shouted as she scrambled. The spider queen never left her cage. Never! So why was it out. She turned and threw out a quick lightning spell only to frown as it crashed harmlessly against its armored side. A leg crashed down beside her, knocking her off her feet. She twisted as she landed, using her momentum to get back on her feet and run into the cave.

Not that it mattered as the level 80 Spider Queen followed her. However, it gave her a moment to duck into one of the smaller passages that the Queen couldn't follow. Layla knew she only had a few moments to protect herself and come up with a plan. She turned just as she heard a scream. Cursing everything around her, Layla quickly set up a small entangle trap that would keep a small creature, or monster, pinned for about 10 hours. It wasn't effective against things bigger than the spider harvesters, but that was all she needed it for.

Layla called forth a wisp, smiling gently at the creature she summoned. "Ready for another adventure, my friend?" She asked it as she ran a finger over it. It hummed under her fingers and she couldn't help the giggle that left her lips. Ah, if only her village could see her. The tough sigilmancer was giggling. They would probably faint. A shout came from up ahead and Layla frowned. It was time to get serious. Some one was in danger.

Layla pulled away the wrappings around her legs, showing the smooth markings from her race. The backs of the wrapping were coated in ruins. She easily activated the marks and re-wrapped her legs. It was a neat way around her Sigilmancer limits and allow for some Runic Knight abilities. However it was no where near what some of the RunicKnites she had met.

She moved through the darkened path, her sigils allowing for sure footing and light step. Layla knew, before she placed her feet, if the ground was lumpy or broken. The Light step decreased the sound she made by a few percent. It wasn't much, but that was all she could add before the cloth she was working on blew up. She could remember that explosion. She had to hire a few people of the land to repair her hut. It also nearly killed her.

Layla jerked out of the way as something pushed past her. She could make out brown hair before she turned and saw the rest of the party running. She braced her self as she watched a good hundred spiders just past the group. Her body tensed, ready for anything as she pulled out a scroll. Spiders were afraid of fire, in fact it was their one weakness.

"What are you doing?" One of the players asked, a samurai by the armor. asked as he ran past.

Layla grinned as she threw the scroll in the air. "Scroll arts! Fire Wall Eternal!" She shouted as she pushed some mana into the scroll. There was a flash as a wall of fire blocked the passage. She threw a grin over her shoulder at the shocked look of the adventures. "What? Never seen a magic scroll?"

"How did you do that?" The girl Layla swore had ran past earlier asked. Layla just began walking back up the path a bit. She was very careful to stay within the 'tether' of magic that held the wall up.

"Ah, I figured other games had magic scrolls and worked with it." Layla glanced over their names before leaning against the wall. "Minori? Touya? You guys from japan or something?"

"Ah, yea, all four of us were on the Japanese server, before the apocalypse." Minori answered, hesitantly.

"Minori's my sister." Touya growled, "And I'm not going to let you pick on either of us because we're japenese."

"H-Hey! What about marvelous me?" Rundlehouse wondered if he was included, the others ignored him and Layla raised her hands in surrender.

"No harm meant!" Layla grinned, "We got some people from the German server the other day, I'm just curious. That's all!" She leaned in a little closer as if telling a secret, "Sides I really liked Japan. So beautiful during the cherry blossom season." Layla frowned as she felt more energy being pulled from her core. The wall wasn't as stable as it should be. She had tested it multiple times before taking it out of her shop.

"Hey guys" Isuzu interrupted, "Is the wall supposed to do that?" She pointed at the fire wall that was fluctuating wildly.

"Huh, that's new." Layla leaned in close, carefully studying the symbols that were appearing and disappearing in the flames. "It seems that something here is disrupting my own magic. Its causing severe fluctuation that I'm having difficulty controlling."

"What dose that mean." Rudy asked also peering close to the fire as if he could also see the sigils that held it together.

"It means that once I lose control or run out of mana this is going to collapse violently, likely charbroiling anything close enough to be caught in its flames." Layla paused, reaching into her bag to pull out a book. She carefully jotted down notes as the others looked at her like she was crazy.

"Shouldn't we be running in the opposite direction?" Isuzu asked as Minori frowned her mind working extremely fast.

"You can't leave can you?" Minori asked as Touya whispered 'Minori'.

Layla shook her head. "Nah, this thing will kill me instantly. There's no running for me. You guys can get going, just shout when the spider queen is gone or defeated. I'll let go of the fire then."

Rudy gasped, "Won't you just re-spawn in one of those nasty towns over here?"

Layla laughed, "After escaping Exodius Externa, I made sure to have a way of re-spawning in my home village."

"Where have I heard of Exodius Externa?" Minori asked as Touya gasped.

"You're the Sigilmancer that escaped!" He pointed at her, "You found a way to escape the guild house using only sigils."

Layla frowned as the wall of fire fluctuated more often, feeding on her spike of fear and anger. "I would be much appreciated if you didn't let the guild know I'm still around and active. They think I'm somewhere on the east coast right now." She shivered as she remember the pain of the potion she took. It had allowed her to change her looks at the cost of far too much money and a lot of pain.

"Mr. Shiroi was looking for you!" Isuzu spoke up. "He wanted to know how you escaped Exodius Externa so he can help some of the others stuck in their guild."

Layla frowned as her expression turned dark. "I do not think there is any way I can help those who are stuck. I lucked out escaping. Honestly with the shoddy sigils work I did I should have been writhing in agony from the backlash." It wouldn't have surprised her at least, there had been other times when the back lash was so horrible that it caused her to collapse in agony.

"What do you mean?" Minori asked and Layla sighed.

"Look, why don't you meat me at my home village. Its up north a few hundred feet. I'll meet you guys there and I can let you in on some Sigilmancer knowledge." She grinned at them, though she could feel the beads of sweat starting to trickle down her neck. Minori much have caught onto to how hard it was to hold the wall, as she turned and began to make plans on how to escape. Layla was content to lean against the wall and close her eyes. She made plans to come back later on and try and find out what caused the disruption in her magic.

Layla's frown deepened as she felt something hovering outside of her senses, something big was approaching and she could only wonder what as her control grew weaker and weaker. Something shouted from above, or someone, Layla knew not as it distracted her just enough to lose control.

Flames licked at her skin as the over powered spell crashed through her protections on her clothes and quickly drained her remaining hp. She smiled through it all despite the pain, for in that moment she had seen where her wall went wrong. Then, she was waking up in her workshop as if nothing happened.


	2. Chapter 2

Forgot to put in an Authors note. They will be short and sweet. Things have changed, my writing has changed and I have over thirty pages set. Now as a heads up once I run out of that postings may be few n far between. I'm not the best when it comes to keep a schedule so please forgive me. And yes there is several OCs. I did watch LogHorizon up to episode 20 so things will diverge and I am taking my own twist on everything. I even have a sequel planned. Again thanks for the patience and dealing with the grammar errors.

Layla groaned, despite being no longer in pain. She pulled out her note book, glad that it and her bag stayed on her, for she knew that her armor was a lost cause. She wrote quickly, denoting the symbol she saw and what may be its purpose. Layla knew she would always remember every single sigils she saw, but she had found that keeping notes on each sigils helped her to organize the insane amounts of thoughts rushing through her brain. She shut her book with a _snap_ , before looking up at the ceiling and began her awakening meditation.

Layla didn't do this at first, not knowing how much information a Race of Ritual could hold. She hadn't understood until her first time dying and coming back. Overwhelmed by the information she collapsed. The Exodius Externa member who was waiting for her death, had grasped her, slapped her hard and told her in no uncertain terms was she to blank again he would make sure she paid for the lost time. The next time she passed out from information over load she was sent to the mines for a full week.

Layla forced the thoughts were they belonged, before searching for her most recent missing memory. She had honestly never thought she would ever remember the things she had forgotten, or regain the ability to remember everything she saw. She honestly hated it. Hated remembering her previous life and the things she did and didn't do.

With another sigh, Layla forced those thoughts into another area, locking them away when she realized she had merely forgotten the name of a girl she once knew in kindergarten. It wasn't like she could regain the memory or even worry about the loss in the first place.

She finished organizing her thoughts before rising and stretching. She let the sigils on the ceiling finish clearing her mind before walking out. Layla knew she wasn't in any sort of armor, just the basic outfit she had originally chose. It wasn't much more than a blue and white robe.

As she stepped outside she waved at one of her neighbors before moving to the center of town where that strange group of adventures were likely to be. She purposely made her way to the center village, ignoring a few of the villagers who were trying to get her attention. As she moved she pulled another scroll from her bag. If she needed to she was prepared to take on the adventures.

"Oh thank god you're here. There's some adventures here, they say they wanted to meet you." Arigne spoke quickly before hiding behind her. Layla sighed as she flipped open a scroll and handed it to Arigne. "Keep it open. If there's trouble I can use it to instantly teleport the adventures elsewhere." It was a lie, but it made the Lander calmer.

Layla straightened as she watched Arigne run away. She turned and walked to the center of the village. There, in the middle was the group of four she had talked to earlier, plus one more. Layla frowned but moved forward as the Landers parted so she could move past them. She looked them over carefully, noting that they were healed, likely due to the healer that seemed to have joined them. "Is the Queen dead? Or do I have to set up preemptive measures?"

Minori shook her head, "We were able to take the Spider Queen down once Serara was able to join up with us." She nodded at the new member. "We also cleared out a few of the nearby dens so the Landers shouldn't have any issues."

Layla sighed in relief. She didn't know if she'd have time to set up fire defenses for the entire town. "Good, I believe you wished to know a little about Sigilmancy?"

"What!? Layla you're not!" Micheal spoke up from his spot beside her. "They're Adventurers!"

"As am I, Micheal. Don't forget it. And I will need a team to explore the cave system up north." Layla looked over at the rest of the landers, "Unless you wish to be overrun by spiders, I need a team."

"But you're so strong!" Another Lander in the crowd called out and Layla sighed as more and more debated, much to the obvious confusion to the group from Log Horizon. Layla just stood and waited for the Villagers to wear themselves out. Its what she did every time she had to bring in any outside help.

"Stop!" Rudy shouted and sudden silence entered the square. "Look, she's just one person! She _Died_ to try and save you from the spider queen." He glared and Layla found him amusing, but otherwise wasting his time. "I've died before." He shuddered, "And I can't begin to explain how painful it is to die and come back. Its something I never want to experience again, but I would for other people. Because I'm Rundlehouse Code!" He dramatically swiped his hair out of his face. "I am an Adventurer, and I would do this for _my_ people."

There was a pause and the villagers looked confused and nervous. Layla just sighed as she turned to leave. The group would be allowed to follow, or not. She really didn't care at this point. Either way, she would have to leave and find another appearance changing position. Absently she wondered how to create one through sigils. She worked through the sigils, her minding seeing the complicated pathways the sigils would have to take before she had to stop. She could barely work through an eight of the sigils work that was necessary. It would be easier just to get a hold of the potion.

She entered her workshop, immediately sitting at the single table and pulling out a blank scroll and a serpent feather quill. She dipped the end in the ink beside her, dragon's eye ink, and begging work on the sigils she saw in her flame shield spell.

"Hello?" Minori asked as she stepped into the shop, the others closely following.

"They decided I can teach you a bit about Sigils?" Layla responded as she drew, absently dipping the quill in the ink.

"Yes, Rudy was able to convince them." Minori frowned at how crowded the room was as Rudy covered his mouth a bright red blush forming over his cheeks. Layla glanced up, before nodding at the chair in front of her.

"Sit."

Minori sat, absently wondering about the abrupt chance in personality as she looked around the workshop. There was sigils everywhere, some tacked up on papers, some written directly on the walls.

"This is my life's work. I create spell scrolls and use them to aid me in fights, or in here to aid my mind when I'm working. This dose cause my focus to change. So you will have to forgive me." Layla looked down again and added a few more touches to the sigils before sighing. "Don't touch anything, Blondie." She glanced up at Rudy. "You could potentially set off a chain reaction that will cause the entire workshop to explode. Then I will have to walk from the Windy City and I really don't want to have to do that."

Rudy backed away from the sigils he was currently admiring.

"So the basics, Sigils are the written form of magic. They take the power from the air around them and draw it in. The different sigils change how the magic works, allowing me to create things like the fire wall you saw earlier. However, other sigils can just as easily destroy a single one, changing the meaning of the entire scroll. So if a frost component was activated near a fire component, you wouldn't get either. What you'd end up is with a wind/water spell rather than the fire and frost spells."

Minori nodded looking up from the note book she had pulled out to write. "What about the fire wall spell."

Layla grinned, "This is the sigils that was messing with it." She turned around the paper, tapping on it and adding a small amount of power. Instead of a flash of light or anything similar, the sigils on the papers around them fell apart. Leaving a smudged mess on all of the paper. "From what I can tell it is a very old sigils and it's a decaying component, but not one that I am familiar with. The decaying components that I know about all effect the effect of a spell, not the sigils themselves." She shook her head and pulled the scroll back. "I need to get into that cave. But I can't use any of my scrolls, which means I need a party."

Minori nodded. "Let me get a hold of Shiroi-san. He's our guild master and we did have a mission out here." She glanced at Touya, "Can you and Rudy explain to the villagers about the things we found out back in Achibara?" They nodded and left. "Izuzu can you and Serara get supplies together?" Both girls nodded and left. Layla ignored Minori as she spoke quietly to Shiroi.

Layla bent over the sigils, carefully making notes on the similar appearance to the Decaying components she was used to. She worked quickly, scribbling down any thought that came to mind. Finally, she sat back to see the group back in the workshop and the sun setting behind them. She stretched, grinning when she felt several pops in her back. "How long have you been there?" She asked as she removed her 'tether' to the sigils in the ceiling.

Rundlehouse stared at her with his mouth wide open for several seconds. "We tried calling your name for almost an hour! An Hour!"

Touya frowned, "We've been here for a while, but Minori figured you would snap out of it eventually." He nodded at the sleeping girl as Layla frowned.

"You'll have to stay in my home for the moment. There's no way I'm letting you sleep in my workshop, its dangerous enough for me I don't want to know what may happen to you." She knelt beside Minori, and far more gently than she thought possible she shook the girl awake. "You seemed to have fallen asleep while I was working."

"I… Wha?" Minori frowned before jumping to her feet. "Oh! Shiroi said we should help you. He also said that he would like to meet with you before he talks to the major guilds in Windy City, Golden Gate and Big Apple." She frowned when Layla just shrugged it off.

"Are you not going to apologize for ignoring us for an _hour_." This time Izuzu spoke up.

Layla glanced at her before shrugging. "Do you see that sigils above us?" Layla asked and the group nodded, Serara clutching her staff closer to her. "That is a focus sigils with some other sigils thrown in." Like an alert sigils and a clarity sigils. She did notice that the proximity sigils didn't go off and revolved to look at it again. "It helps me focus on my work. With out it I'm rather scattered minded. However, once I'm focused I will stay focused until my project is finished."

The entire group stared in amazement, "What about food?" Serara asked, her voice quiet.

Layla just shrugged and she walked out of her workshop, waving the other's to follow. As soon as they were all out of the building, Layla pressed the sigils on the door. Any one who tried to open it would die. There was no ifs and buts. The villagers all knew it, and those unlucky few adventures who tried to find out her secrets were fried six ways to hell. "Don't touch the door, it will kill you." Layla spoke as she began to walk. The group followed, mostly silent with Minori and Touya speaking quietly. They made it to her house fairly quickly, and she let them in.

There was nothing to differentiate her house from any other poor villager and except, of course, that there were almost no space with out sigils. Though, her room was the only one with a sigils on the ceiling. "I afraid you'll have to use the sofa and what ever you can pull up. My room has another sigils in it and it will likely make you insane so I'm going to have you avoid it. I will remove the bed if that will make it easier for you to sleep."

"Why dose everything have sigils on them?" Minori asked as she stared at a chair that had a curved snaking design up the side.

Layla shrugged, "Some are there to be useful. I have ones to deter insects and stabilize my shelves so they don't collapse on me. Others are just my attempts at experimenting before I was given my workshop. A few of them were my first attempts." She paused, "When I was gifted my workshop I tried to remove them, but it failed spectacularly." She gestured at a black spot on her floor.

"You're really obsessed with creating these things aren't you?" Rudy asked as he poked one of them.

"You can call it that." Layla agreed. "But I technically created a branch of magic using sigils and I'm always trying to outdo myself."

"Wow!" Izuzu smiled as she sat on a couch, she was surprised at how such a shabby sofa could be so soft. "I claim this to sleep on." She told the others and Layla chuckled.

"I'll bring out my bed, The two girls can share." Layla nodded at Minori and Serara. "I think I have some blankets that the boys can use to sleep on." She disappeared into another room, leaving to discuss what they had learned.

"I don't think I trust her." Touya noted as he glanced around the room. "How could someone this powerful not be known around the world."

"Its not likely, true." Minori agreed, "But think of how long it took us to even find her. If it weren't for us checking out the Spider event we wouldn't have even found her."

"Why is she hiding?" Serara asked, not seeing Layla hiding in a corner, watching the group with weary eyes.

"From what Shiroi can gather, Exodus Externia had captured and forced several sigilmancers into working for him. The guild makes the Sigilmancers come up with greater and more powerful sigils for their weapons. This made the guild unstoppable in the America's. However, somehow a single Sigilmancer escaped. She ran to some other guilds and outfitted them with better weapons to hold off the dark guild. After that, Shiroi says she disappeared. He thought she had taken a appearance changing potion and fled the continent." Minori shook her head. "Shiroi said the he would like her to help find a way to stop the Dark Guild. But he also wants to see if there is a way to go home."

"Really?" Izuzu asked with a grin, "I can see my mom and da' again?"

Minori nodded, "That is if its possible. We still don't know." Minori paused as she looked up to see Layla walking in with an armful of blankets. She gave them to the boys before nodding to a door off to the side. "The bed has been moved into the office area. You are free to sleep when ever you need, but I am going to call it a night. Good night!" Then she was gone.

Layla closed her eyes, trying to get the images of her previous guild out of her mind. She shuddered as she remembered hearing the screams of her original guild members as Exodius Externia tortured them. She pressed her hands to her ears as if to block the sounds of a whip hitting flesh and the broken cries of the youngest member of the then guild Freedom Wings. She could remember the feel of the whip digging into her own back, the feel of blood pooling and the harsh glare of the sigils below her feet. Sigils of feeling and increased pain, she could still see the sigils of healing and the ones that prevented anything from dying in the circle.

Layla barely remembered activating the overhead sigils with her power, allowing the sigils to force her into the present. She opened her eyes, looking up at the glowing sigils, knowing that there would be no stopping Exodius Externia. She would know. She had tried so many times, after watching so many landers tortured and killed she gave up. No one had the power to end the Dark Guild. With a heavy sigh, Layla folded her legs under her and began her nightly meditation. As she had just died there would be no need to attempt to sleep for another two more days.

The next morning arrived bright and early with the sounds of excitement from the log horizon guild. Layla opened her eyes as she took several deep breaths. Despite the hours she spent meditating, she still could hear the echos of the members of her original guild. She shook the thoughts out of her head and walked into her kitchen. She smiled softly as the group laughed merrily, happily talking about the newest mission sent to them from their guild master.


	3. Chapter 3

"Good morning." Layla greeted, smiling at the returned good morning from the group. "Will you need supplies? Or shall we set out immediately?"

Minori did some quick thinking. "We should be good. If things get harder we may need to call Shiroi back and have him send over one of the more powerful guild members to help."

Layla nodded, "I've only been on the outskirts of the cave system, as I've never been one for exploring by myself." Lies, she told them, knowing that while that cave system she had avoid she was often exploring the lands for better materials.

Minori nodded. "We should go now."

The group nodded and left. Layla stayed to the back, she would let them do all of the work for her. She really didn't want to show her hand at any point. Though, she smiled as she watched the group interact. They were so happy, just like her own little group before Exodius Externa got a hold of them. Layla shook the thought out of her head. She had no business thinking about them anymore, she left them behind. She left them to their fate while she had only grew stronger.

As they made it to the cave system with little issue, Layla noted how the cave system seemed to drawn in light, but made it almost impossible to see.

"I-I don't like this." Serena spoke softly as she clung to Minori. Minori just looked around as Touya gripped his sword tighter.

"Have no fear, Serena, I will protect you." Rudy shouted. The echoing sound made a few stalactites fall and crash nearby.

"Please do not shout." Layla spoke softly, her eyes darting around the cave system as she spoke.

"What's going on? The cave wasn't like that before." Izuzu pointed out.

Serara held tight to Minori. as she shivered. "Why is this so wrong?" She asked as Layla's eyes opened in realization.

"The decaying ruin!" Layla almost shouted, "That must be doing this!" She flipped open her book and wrote something down. She looked back up before removing a pair of glasses with small sigils on the sides. With little hesitation she began writing the sigils on a piece of paper. She worked quickly coming up with idea's to work out how to proceed.

"There's something out there." Touya told the group, "I can feel it at the edge of my senses."

Minori nodded, "Serena prepare to start casting healing spells. Izuzu, cast a sight spell for all of us. Touya, we may need a distraction sooner than later, and Rudy summon a light for us."

The group nodded, readying for battle. Layla smiled as she felt the eagerness of the group to fight and took a step into the darkness. If her calculations were correct. Instead of being pulled deeper into the cave system there was a moment of pain as she was ripped apart. Layla sighed as she re-spawned in her home staring at the ceiling. "That is an event." She told herself. "What event could it be?"

Layla couldn't figure it out but wondered if the group she had gone with was fine. She wished that a teleportation spell wasn't so far out of her reach. She could potentially figure it out, however the shear complexity of moving human bodies from one point to the other was more involved than most things. Even her re-spawn Sigil was nothing compared to the teleportation sigils. Layla sighed again as she decided to wait for the group to return.

Minori stared in horror as Touya once again tried to attack the shadow in front of them. "Rudy a fire spell, NOW!" She shouted as they slowly worked their way back into the safe zone that they found. The lights flickered brightly in the darkness and Minori sighed as they reached it.

"What do we do, Minori?" Izuzu asked.

"Where's Layla?" Touya asked as the group looked around.

"She was right here!" Izuzu stated as she collapsed on the ground nearby.

Rudy Frowned. "Did something happen to her?"

Serara looked back, the sight spell barely allowing her to see farther than a few feet in. "Oh No!" She Pointed into the darkness. "Isn't that her stuff?"

Touya frowned "Is she really that reliant on her seals?"

Minori shook her head, "We can barely handle this right now. I bet she was surrounded and killed almost instantly. Race of Ritual have a very low health pool and hers was lower than most that I've seen. It wouldn't take more than one or two hits for her to be killed."

"So what do we do?" Izuzu asked softly.

"We'll have to head back. There's no way we can take this on our own." Minori spoke into the darkness. "We will grab her stuff and flee."

The group nodded and as one they turned and fled. They made it back to the small village where Layla was working on a set of ruins, a decaying symbol open next to her. She was frowning as she worked, nothing in her eyes except the reflection of the ruins in her gaze.

Minori reached for her, hesitantly and tapped her shoulder. Layla didn't react, her gaze drawn into the symbol. Figuring that it was a lost case, Minori turned to the others.

"Right, since last time Layla didn't come out of this trance for several hours, lets contact Shiroi and see about getting some help with it." Minori spoke softly, but strongly.

"I'll talk to the People of the Land, See about any local quests and rumors." Izuzu spoke up from Minori's right.

Rudy nodded, "I'll join her. Maybe having me be near her will make them more relaxed." He frowned, "Many of the People of the Land don't seem to like us adventures."

Rudy and Izuzu left, both eager to be doing something to make them not feel helpless. Serena just frowned. "What should I do?"

Minori glanced at her, "Can you go get things to trade for potions?" Serena nodded and left. Minori glanced at her brother before opening the connection for Shiroi. When he didn't answer, she sighed and settled in for a long wait.

It was a long wait. It wasn't until eight hours later did Layla stir. She moved quickly at that point her hand reaching for the clothes that she normally had off to the side. Confusion flashed across her face when she didn't grab anything and as she frowned she seemed to realize who was sitting in front of her. There was a moment of hesitation in her gaze before Layla gently woke up Minori.

"Minori, wake up please." Layla spoke gently, far more gently than she had ever thought she could.

Minori woke swiftly, nearly bumping heads with Layla as she did so. "Wha? Wha's going on?" Minori mumbled.

"We may have a problem, so I need you awake. Also I need a line to your guild master." There was a pause as Layla turned around, grabbing fabric as she did so. "The event that is going on is one that I have never seen before." Layla started as she began crafting and Minori couldn't help but be memorized when she realized that the fabric that she thought was just a piece of cloth was really a long flowing outfit.

Layla immediately sat at the workstation and added more sigils to the already massive amount on the fabric. "I'll need a better quality robe soon." She murmured lowly to herself as she worked.

"Layla? What's going on?" Minori asked.

"First get your guild leader on so I can explain." Layla paused in-between stitching a sigil into the seam. "You are going to play the translator as I don't have his contact information." There was a slight pause, "Also I want your best gear." There was another moment as she turned back to the garment she was working on. "I will make some of your gear better so you have a better chance of surviving what ever this even is."

Minori frowned, "Do you know what this even is?"

Layla glanced up before going right back to her work. "I will explain when you get in contact with your guild leader." Layla insisted.

Minori huffed before trying to get in contact with Shiroi. This time it went through.

"Minori?" Shiroi asked.

"Shiroi-san, Layla wants to discuss with you about an event that popped up over here." Minori quickly responded. Layla glanced up, long enough to catch eyes with Minori before speaking clearly, only pausing to allow Minori time to catch up.

"This is a theory more than everything, but from what I have gathered you are Shiroi, also known as the Villain-in-glasses one of the most deadly players in this game." Layla's eyes flashed as she spoke; her voice toneless as if she was giving a report. "You are know throughout the lands as a tactical genius and for that I will need you over here." Her gaze sharpened as she listened to Minori speak to Shiroi. "This event, I believe is an ancient event, likely only happening in this world once ever several centuries."

"Wait." Minori interrupted after she told Shiroi what Layla said. "Shiroi wants clarification on this world that you said earlier."

Layla grinned, "Isn't it clear?" Her eyes darkened, "We were transported one way or another into this realm. We are here as much as we were on our home world." She laughed, one single bark of a laugh. "Due to that theory, as soon as I escaped Exodius Externa I looked into it. The scrolls that I found all agree. It was a spell designed to bring any one with a certain familiarity to this realm. Unfortunately, our world had a special person with the ability to see into this realm. and created the game. We are here, stuck until I reverse engineer the spell."

Minori gasped, "You can reverse the spell?"

Layla nodded, "Theoretically I can reverse anything. However that's not the issue. The issue right now is the decaying ruin that is slowly decaying the area around it. If I do not contain the ruin, we will all die."

Minori paled at that, but continued to translate.

"From my understanding, these ancient sigils were used to create this world. These are the building blocks of this world, like atoms are in ours. Or at least I believe atoms are the building blocks of our world." Layla paused to glance at Minori, "I believe that this is one of the many events that are about to shake this world. I don't know what its going to do, but this sigil is not good news."

"What dose it do?" Minori asked, her gaze locking onto Layla's own.

"It destroys." Layla frowned, "Even the Sigil I have prepared will only last for so long before it also will be destroyed. It is a temporary fix, but at least it is a fix."

"Why do you need Shiroi's help?" Minori asked.

Layla huffed, a hint of laughter in that breath of air. "I know that I won't make it to the core. I need accesses to the Sigil stone in order to add my own sigils and see the remains of the old ones. However, with my health as lacking as it is, I would be a fool to attempt it myself. I'm sure Shiroi can manage to aid us in the hell hole that is the caves." Layla pondered as she easily pulled on the now completed robe. The purple garment clung to her body, loosening at the waist and flowing down her lags stopping at her ankles.

"Shiroi said that he and the others will be here in a few more hours. They are taking their griffins so it shouldn't be too much longer."

Layla nodded. "Alright, hand me your staff and I will upgrade it. Also any armor you have as well." Minori handed over the staff as well as her armor. Layla took them and began upgrading everything. When the others came in she never looked up, just took the items and began crafting. The others watched for a bit but eventually left. When they left, Layla looked up, a dark look crossing her face. She didn't want to revel her skills, but she wouldn't have a choice.

Despite that thought, she worked quickly. Adding in the best Sigils that she could with the quality of materials that she had, she finished them in time for a new person to walk into the hut.

Tall, far taller than her with dark hair and glasses set upon his delicate nose, Layla assumed that this was Shiroi. She disconnected herself from her Sigil and rose. "I'm assuming that you are the Villain-in-glasses."

Shiroi frowned, minutely before his face blanked. Layla grinned, "Its good to see that there is a human in there." Layla teased before her face grew serious. "This thing is going to be interesting so let me give you a full heads up on my abilities."

Shiroi nodded and sat down at the single chair. "Minori told me that you work mostly with sigils. She noted that your low health makes you an easy target as well."

Layla grinned, "Heh, she would think that. But its not. My sigils make me extremely difficult to kill." There was a slight pause, "I'm going to show some very specific parts of my skills. I expect for this to never go farther than this room. If it dose I will continually kill you until you forget everything that I have told you."

"You take this very seriously." Shiroi noted before smiling softly, "Of course, I understand. I looked into the Exodius Eterna when I had the chance." He frowned, "From my understanding they are not a good guild. The things that I have heard..." He trailed off.

"Not all of them are true." Layla agreed, "But many rumors are. Now, my main skill is in sigils and scrolls. Any thing that you can think up I can make."

Shiroi nodded "I will want an over view of all of your skills, everything you know and can do. Information on this event as well."

Layla nodded as she spoke quickly of her abilities and scrolls. Going over the event afterwards the two came up with plans to use and discarded just as many. Several hours later both were satisfied with their plans. Layla took the break to rest. Closing her weary eyes she slept as Shiroi went over the plans with Naotsugu and Nyata.


End file.
